D 570 
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.C56 
1918c 
Copy 1 



Metal Etfge, Inc. 2007 RAT. 



Work of the 

Conference Committee 



ON 



National Preparedness 



1918 



11 The permanent peace of the world can be secured 
only through the gradual concentration of preponderant 
military strength in the hands of the most pacific 
nations." — John Fisk. 



ONE MADISON, AVENUE 
NEW YORK CITY 



Conference Committee on 
Rational <PreparebneftS 

NEW YORK CITY 

Office of the Secretary: 

Metropolitan Life Building 

One Madison Avenue 

Phone, Gramercy 2168 

Officers: 

HENRY A. WISE WOOD Chairman 

RAYMOND B. PRICE Treasurer 

JAMES E. CLARK Secretary 



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.&*&„&Ss^Jt* 



PRESS OF 

EATON & GETTINGEB 

NEW YORK 






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Published at the request of several of 
the Committee's subscribers, who wish 
to have its work brought more promi- 
nently to the attention of the public. 



Digitized by the Internet Archive 
in 20T1 with funding from 
The Library of Congress 



http://www.archive.org/details/workofconnferencOOconf 




Army Recruiting Poster for which the Committee awarded a prize of $250 



Work of the 

CONFERENCE COMMITTEE ON 
NATIONAL PREPAREDNESS 



It is better to be always prepared than to suffer 
once. 7 ' — Latin Proverb. 



THE Conference Committee on National Preparedness 
was organized at the clubhouse of the Aero Club of America, 
on June 3, 1915. Its purpose was to create a clearing-house 
for the exchange of ideas by those who were active in the 
preparedness movement, and to supplement the work of the patriotic 
organizations which existed at that time. At its first meeting the 
present chairman was chosen to conduct its affairs. 

The following letter, which was sent the President of the United 
States on June 17, 1915, expresses the position of the Committee 
with respect to the national duty: 



HONORABLE WOODROW WILSON, 
President of the United States, 
"Washington, D. C. 
Sir: 

I have the honor to hand you herewith the accompanying resolution of the 
Conference Committee on National Preparedness. In doing this I beg leave to 
express for the Committee its wish so to pursue the object for which it was 
formed that the activities of the Committee shall serve to promote the work of the 
authorities in strengthening and rendering more efficient our military and naval 
forces. 

Our position is this: "We believe that our citizens, because of their ignorance of 
the height of perfection to which military and naval affairs abroad have been 
carried, have failed to realize and to impress upon their representatives in Con- 
gress the need for similar progress in the development of our own defensive 
establishments. 

Also, we believe that this neglect of the progress made in military science in 
Europe has been promoted and strengthened by the propagation in this country 
of the belief that international relationships had reached a point at which it was 



Compliments of 
The Conference Committee on National Preparedness. 
One Madison Avenue, New York City. 

GERMAN VS. AMERICAN NAVAL STRATEGY 

By Rear Admiral Bradley A. Fiske, U. S. N. 
Formerly Aide for Operations, U. S. Navy. 

The most important element connected with a 
navy is the strategy which directs it, in accordance 
with which all its plans are laid - plans for prepara- 
tion before war and plans for operations during war. 
Strategy is to a navy what mind is to a man. It 
determines its character, its composition, its aims; 
and so far as external conditions will permit, the 
results which it accomplishes. 

One dislikes intensely to criticize his own 
country, even to himself. But when a naval officer 
is studying - as he should continually do - what must 
be done, in order to protect his country from attack 
by some foreign foe, it would be criminal folly for 
him to estimate the situation otherwise than honestly; 
and to do this, it is necessary to try to see where his 
country is weak and where strong, relatively to the 
possible foes in question. If we do this, and compare 
the strategical methods employed by - say Germany 
and us - we are forced to admit that the German 
methods are better adapted to producing economically 
a navy fitted to contend successfully in war against 
an enemy. In Germany the development of the navy 
has been strictly along the lines of a method carefully 
devised beforehand; in our country no method whatever 
is apparent, at least no logical method. Congress, 
and Congress alone, decides what vessels and other 
craft shall be built, how many officers and men 
shall wear the uniform. It is true that they consult 
the report of the Secretary of the Navy, and ask the 
opinions of some naval officers; and it is true that 
the Secretary of the Navy gets the opinions of certain 
naval officers including the General Board, before 
making his report . But both the Secretary and Congress 
estimate the situation from their own points of 
view, and place their own value on the advice of naval 
officers. And the advice of these naval officers is 
not so valuable, possibly as it might be; for 
the reason that it is really irresponsible, since 
the advisers themselves know that it will not be 
taken very seriously. The difference between the 
advice of men held responsible for the results of 
following their advice, and the advice of men not so 
held responsible, is well recognized, and is discussed 
fully in the reports of the Moody and the Swift Boards 
on the organization of the Navy Department. Further- 
more, our officers do not have the machinery of the 
Kriegspiel to help them. It is true that at the 



Sample of our Educational Bulletins (1917) for Newspapers 

6 



no longer conceivable that any dispute could arise which would refuse to yield 
to temperate discussion or arbitration. 

We are convinced that the ignorance of military progress and the conviction 
that the coming of war to this country had for all time ceased to be a possibility 
have so affected our people, our legislators, and our governmental officials that 
until recently they had been led to hold a sense of security not warranted by the 
actual conditions existing anywhere else throughout the world. 

Realizing as we do the extent of the military arrears into which the American 
people has permitted itself to fall, we cannot fail to ask ourselves what likely 
should have been our penalty had we before the beginning of the present struggle 
found ourselves called upon to resist by force aggression upon our rights at home, 
or upon our possessions, or the Monroe Doctrine, which we hold we must maintain 
at any cost. 

The answer to this question is to be found in the behavior of one of the 
European belligerents within the territory of its antagonists, and the almost 
unbelievable force which it has been able to exert upon its enemies. Unquestion- 
ably it is to the effect that in the event of such an occurrence we should have 
suffered heavily in lives and property during the long period which it would have 
required for us to place ourselves in position to offer an effective resistance, and 
to drive out the invader. Meanwhile we should probably have lost part of our 
oversea possessions, and have been compelled to witness the fall of the Monroe 
Doctrine and a permanent foothold gained by our enemy elsewhere in this 
hemisphere. 

This merely illustrates the fact that our statesmen and our people alike have 
been guilty of remissness, that they have wholly failed to see the danger which 
we now perceive to have been actual, and to prepare to meet it. 

This being so, we hold the view that it is the duty of every American citizen 
to do all that lies within his power to correct at once the consequences of this 
unfortunate failure of foresight, so that should an emergency suddenly be thrust 
upon us we shall be able to cope with it at its very inception by previously pre- 
pared defenses, defenses which shall be sufficient to prevent our enemy from 
obtaining a secure foothold upon our own soil from which to conduct his campaign. 

Now, in order to aid in bringing about what they believe to be an adequate 
state of preparedness, the organizations which touch in this Committee have so 
met in order to concentrate the combined energies of all upon the work of edu- 
cating our people in the necessities of preparedness and in the means by which 
security may be got, and of aiding the authorities in obtaining from Congress the 
moneys, the power, and the freedom needed to achieve this. 

I am, very respectfully, 

Your obedient servant, 
(Signed) HENRY A. WISE WOOD, 

Chairman. 

The resolution follows: 

"Resolved, that the Chairman express to the President of the United 
States the earnest desire of this committee and its associated organi- 
zations to cooperate within their respective spheres in furthering any 
plans of the administration for strengthening and perfecting the 
national defenses in any respect in which the President believes this 
cooperation may be made effective." 




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Types of our Educational Bulletins 



WHILE CHANGES in the structure and composition of the 
Committee have occurred from time to time, the conduct of 
its affairs and its policy have remained continuously in the same 
hands, in those of Raymond B. Price, Alan R. Hawley, Henry Wood- 
house, and its Chairman, and of James E. Clark, its Secretary. The 
Committee has had the cooperation and guidance of leading men 
and women, and officials of the Federal and State Governments. 

The Committee has now become an educational and inspirational 
force of no mean power; it has been for the press a valuable and 
trustworthy source of information, and for a large and influential 
part of our people a helpful means of enabling them to make the 
patriotism of their respective communities effective. 

It will be recalled that when the outbreak of the war in Europe 
gave proof that the United States had long been living in a fool's 
paradise there was little if any sentiment in favor of increasing our 
national defenses at all, much less upon a plan adequate to our needs. 
On the contrary, there was all over the land a clamor for the con- 
tinuance of our state of defenselessness, as the best means for pre- 
serving peace and protecting our national liberties. The first work 
of the Conference Committee was to oppose this, and to strengthen 
and quicken what sentiment there was for preparations for defense; 
to supplant apathy with active interest, and to arouse all to the 
manifold dangers of pacifism. 

The work of the Conference Committee therefore has been one of 
education, in which those whom it sought to educate were either 
indifferent or violently prejudiced against any military measures of 
protection. To give the details of this campaign, in which approxi- 
mately a million books, posters, pamphlets, other pieces of literature, 
and letters and telegrams have been sent out, is neither practicable 
nor useful. But as a means to an understanding of the work the 
Committee has done, we have illustrated herein the methods by which 
we have sought to form and direct public opinion. 

Much of our effort has been aimed at giving proper direction and 
information to those who in turn address the people. For instance, 
in the early days of our work, when preparedness had not become 
an issue, the Conference Committee induced a large number of 
patriotic clergymen to discuss the need of preparedness in their 
Thanksgiving sermons. So ably was this matter handled by leading 
divines that the clergy of the United States soon lent a strong hand 
to the movement for adequate military preparations. In the unifi- 
cation of the nation for national defense there has been no factor 
more powerful than the splendid aid given from the pulpit by 
patriotic clergymen. 











Specimen Pages from our 1916 Campaign 



10 



I 

AWAKENING AND EDUCATION OF THE MASSES 

THIS WORK has been carried on through the following principal 
channels : 

Newspapers and Magazines. 

Conventions held from time to time by Associations, Profes- 
sions, Fraternities, Trades, etc. 

Direct appeal to officials and private individuals, by means 
of letters, telegrams, etc. 

Distribution of appropriate books, pamphlets, and leaflets. 

Preparation and distribution of posters. 

Making of public addresses. 



NEWSPAPERS AND MAGAZINES 

NEWSPAPERS fall into two great classes — the metropolitan 
papers in which all matter is set in their own offices, and the 
smaller publications which use printing plates or printed sheets sent 
from the large cities. To the first class we have sent matter sub- 
stantially every fortnight, discussing one or another phase of the 
need for preparations for national defense. 

The article, German vs. American Strategy, by Rear Admiral 
Bradley A. Fiske, page 6, is typical of this form of our propa- 
ganda. Articles of this class, of which the Committee has sent out 
many, have been of inestimable value in molding the public thought 
which eventuated in national legislation. 

By means of similar articles, furnished to rural daily and weekly 
papers, we have carried the appeal for practical patriotism to the 
men and women removed from the centers of population. 

Page 10 shows several of a series that have been furnished to 
2,000 newspapers, in substantially all States of the Union. Assuming 
that these rural papers have an average of only 1,000 copies each, 
these articles were placed in the hands of no less than two million 
persons. But their influence, however, did not end there, for each 
newspaper in rural districts is usually read by from three to five 
persons. In each case our endeavor was to suit our matter to the 
needs of the moment and the particular class it was desired to in- 
struct. 

We have resorted also to Sunday newspapers. Long before our own 
entry into the war we had published in these three classes of news- 
papers a series of articles on the military mistakes made by the 
United States in the past. It was obviously necessary to guard our 
people against the plausible sophistries that in other wars had led 
them to needless wastes of men and money. That there has been no 



11 



CLASS OF SERVICE DESIRED 


Fast Day Mewaao 




Day letter 




Night IVJessagt 




Night letter 




of service desired; 
OTHERWISE THE TELEGRAM 
WILL BE TRANSMITTED AS A 
FAST OAY MESSAGE. 




Stod the following telegram, subject to the tern 
on bock hereof, which arc hereby agreed to 



April 7, 1917. 
Editor, 

Grand Rapids Press, 
Grand Rapids, Michigan 

Please suggest to the prominent men of your 
City the vital importance of immediately holding a 
patriotic mass meeting with the most forceful speakers 
obtainable in order to stimulate army and navy 
recruiting. 

The duration of the war now depends upon the 
speed with which our armies are recruited. Any 
holding back will lengthen the war, encourage the 
enemy and irreparably injure the United States in 
the opinion of the whole world, whereas, the moral 
effect of speed in recruiting will, by hastening the 
day of peace, save many lives. 

HENRY A. WISE WOOD, Chairman, 
Conference Committee on National Preparedness. 
HAWWrNGC 



CONVENTION RESOLUTION 

WHEREAS - The future peace and prosperity of the 
United States depend upon its ability to defend its 
rights at home and abroad and its shores against 
invasion and 

WHEREAS - Nearly three years of war overseas 
have shown us the absolute necessity of a citizenry 
trained to arms, and 

WHEREAS - Our own history has demonstrated 
the folly of depending for defense upon raw, untrained, 
hastily gathered troops, therefore, for the safety 
of the nation and its rights be it 

RESOLVED - That it is the sense ^of this con- 
vention that legislation should be immediately 
enacted providing for the military training of all 
young men so that in the hour of need all shall be 
able to perform their fundamental duty to the nation. 



Upper — Form of Direct Appeal Used at Declaration of War 

Lower — Convention Resolution used by us During Early Stage of 

Preparedness Movement 

12 



popular demand to repeat old errors is largely due to the fact that 
the public has become familiar with the history of these errors, and 
the disasters which resulted from them. 

As Congressional action is always influenced by what the people 
"back home" think, and as the thoughts of these people are readily 
shaped by their reading, the importance of reaching voters through 
their favorite home newspapers is so great that this work must go 
on without interruption. The war has by no means aroused all in the 
nation from their lethargy. Too many of our people are still in- 
capable of realizing that any responsibility rests upon them, — that 
any sacrifice should be made by them. There are indeed many whom 
it has only begun to make receptive to new thoughts. Upon these 
we and others must continue to work, as upon all classes, if solidarity 
and effective mass action are to be achieved. 

For educational purposes the Committee has persistently sent out 
to the Press of the United States, to both Houses of Congress, and 
to an extensive body of influential citizens, the most instructive 
articles and editorials which have come to its notice in American 
publications. Bulletins of this class are illustrated on page 8. 

CONVENTIONS 

THERE ARE THOUSANDS of yearly conventions held in the 
United States. Almost every trade, every fraternity, every pro- 
fession, every calling, has its State and National conclaves, and 
through these conventions men, whose interests could not be aroused 
by any other means, have often been reached and influenced. With 
the cooperation of chambers of commerce, commercial associations, 
and trade associations, the Committee, for instance, during the 
period preceding the passage of the first great navy and army war 
bills, sent an appeal to each such convention offering to furnish a 
speaker and requesting the adoption of resolutions, some of them 
similar to that which appears on page 12. The benefit derived was 
threefold. First, the needs of the army and navy were impressed 
on the delegates ; second, the convention 's action was reported in the 
newspapers in the convention city and the need of specific action 
therein advertised, and, finally, the resolution of the convention was 
carried back to subordinate bodies to be transmitted by them to their 
representatives in Congress. 



o 



DIRECT APPEAL 

NE FORM OF DIRECT APPEAL is illustrated by the letter 
to mayors, page 14, which presented to them the urgent need, 
which still exists, for universal military training, and urged their co- 
operation in securing it as a community benefit, as well as a national 



13 



Cottfmnr* (Enmmitte* an National ^ttpwctbtttB* 



New York City 



henry a. wisi wood •■««■»« 



RAYMOND ■. PRICE 



MKTBO*OLITAN 1 



January 10th, 1917. 
Hon. Thomas Van Lear, Mayor, 

Minneapolis, Minn. 
Dear Sir:- 

I am writing you on the assumption that you: 
and the principal citizens of your community, are 
always willing to do what you can for your own town 
and that you are especially willing to lend your 
influence to anything which will promote the security 
and save the lives of your fellow citizens. 

You are doubtless aware that we are at a critical 
time in our life as a nation, far more critical than 
most men realize. A navy sufficient to restore our 
safety at sea is yet to be built. Last year's scheme 
to give us an army has failed. Even if the regular 
army as provided by the legislation of the last 
session of Congress were sufficient in size to repel 
an invasion the rate at which recruiting proceeds 
presages failure, and the mobilization of the National 
Guard on the border proves conclusively that if our 
nation depends upon such a system for defense this 
fallacy will produce immense disasters in the future, 
as it has done in the past. 

Of the total number on the rolls of the National 
Guard at the call for mobilization nearly 47,657 
were lost on account of physical disability, or for 
other reasons. 

Of the total number who went to the border 
128,000 - nearly one half, or 60,000 were without 
any military training; 56,813 had never fired a 
military rifle, and only 37 per cent of those who 
were enrolled when the call came were mustered into 
the service. Therefore, had our troops been called 
upon to face the troops of a first class, or even a 
second class power, the most appalling slaughter of 
our own people would have been inevitable. 



Form of Appeal Used Prior to Declaration of War, That Old 
Military Errors Might Be Avoided 

14 



These figures are significant, but they are 
especially prophetic when you recall that in peace 
times one foreign nation can land 827,000 trained 
soldiers on our Atlantic coast in 46 days, another 
nation at present can land 238,000 seasoned troops on 
our Pacific coast in 63 days. Is it wise longer to 
leave our homes and our families unprotected when we 
can so easily raise an effective barrier against 
war's reaching to our own shores? 

Universal military training and service is now 
our only safeguard against general disaster should 
war come with a first class military power. Without 
it we will never have an army sufficient to inspire 
the respect of predatory nations, and in the name of 
humanity and of patriotism, I ask you for the sake 
of the men and women of your own city, to give your 
influence to bring about this much needed change in 
our military system. If war comes as the result of 
our present, almost criminal negligence it will carry 
off the young men of your city just as have our past 
wars, so what better service could you render your 
fellow citizens than by helping so to shape conditions 
that we shall be made too secure to warrant any nation 
in attacking us? 

Yours very truly, 




NOTE: To the letter printed above, Mayor Van Lear sent a reply 
in which among other things he said: 

"I have time and energy to give to the organization of the common 
people for the purpose of relieving themselves of the commercial 
tyranny which betrays them, but I have only opposition to give to the 
efforts to organize the young men of America to gain for themselves 
and their families the same sort of protection that Germany's prepared- 
ness has meant for her common men." 

The Conference Committee on National Preparedness felt that the 
people of Minneapolis were entitled to copies of the Mayor's letter and 
the Committee's reply thereto, and the publication of these letters, 
disclosing an amazing lack of loyalty on the part of a public official, so 
aroused the city that public meetings of protest were held by patriotic 
citizens, and an organization was formed to arouse the Northwest to 
the needs of the situation. 



15 



AMERICAN. 

LOOK INTO 

YOUR HEART I 




Books and Pamphlets Distributed 



16 



safeguard. The great number of replies received promising favor- 
able action showed the value of our promptings. When there 
were unfavorable replies, as was the case of the Mayor of Min- 
neapolis, he stating that he was opposed to all military training 
and service and any preparations for defense, these letters located 
places needing intensive work and enabled us to appeal directly to 
the community over the official 's head. Such an appeal in the Minne- 
apolis case brought about great mass meetings, and for the first time 
aroused that section of the country to the need of immediate action. 

Another form of direct appeal, by wire, for specific action, is illus- 
trated on page 12, a telegram sent to a long list of influential citi- 
zens in all important cities immediately after the Government had 
broken off relations with Germany. In one city, for instance, our 
telegram calling for action immediately set in motion forces which 
produced a meeting of 20,000 persons, whereat one hundred men 
volunteered for the army. 

Still another form of direct appeal, which brought substantial re- 
sults, is illustrated by the letter and enclosure to clergymen, repro- 
duced on pages 32 and 33, and warning them of the dangers springing 
from the Kaiser's claims of an alliance with God. 



HISTORY-MAKING BOOKS 

SOME BOOKS carry messages so great that they make new eras 
in history. Mahan's "Influence of Sea Power Upon History" 
is one of these. When the truths presented therein had been 
grasped by the great sea nations they immediately called home their 
battleships from foreign waters and assembled them at points vital 
to their security. Germany's sea power began with Mahan. Never- 
theless, until the present war the American public, from whom the 
men who form the nation's policies at Washington are drawn, knew 
nothing of naval power. Mahan's lesson, Eear Admiral Fiske's book, 
"The Navy As a Fighting Machine" teaches. "Every law maker," 
said Admiral Dewey, "should have it in his library." 

When Congress, in preparation for war, was about to take up the 
consideration of new naval legislation, the Committee presented 
a copy of Admiral Fiske's book to each member of both Houses, and 
the truths which are therein laid down by Fiske undoubtedly exerted 
a wholesome influence on the legislation which ensued, and assuredly 
will bear good fruit in the future. 

A merchant marine is not only an indispensable part of our de- 
fenses but is absolutely necessary to our welfare, if we are to con- 
tinue a great nation. 

The place a merchant marine plays in the rise and decline of 



17 




VYHLASKA 



yJj?iLTJ!i?z^ > !i£jr!?ii2z£?'JS?£^i S£ T£ 



06MBJIEHIE. 






Committee's Food Proclamation Used in 1917 
18 



nations, the debt Americans owe to their old merchant marine for 
upbuilding the nation and saving it when nothing else could have 
saved it, are so clearly set forth in the "Heritage of Tyre," by 
William Brown Meloney, that he who reads it must henceforth regard 
American shipping as something closely allied to his own prosperity 
and his own protection. Therefore, when the re-creation of a mer- 
chant marine was about to be taken up by Congress we placed this 
book in the hands of every member of both houses of Congress. 

Similarly, and at an opportune time, we sent to Congress, "America 
Entangled," an expose of the German spy system, by John Price 
Jones. Again, at an oppropriate moment, we sent "Mobilizing Amer- 
ica," by Arthur Bullard. Both contain information exceedingly 
useful to members of the national legislature. 

Earlier in our campaign we distributed, among an extensive list 
of educators engaged in planning public instruction, the following 
books : 

"Industrial Preparedness," by C. E. Knoeppel. 

"Straight America," by Frances A. Kellor. 

"Peace Insurance," by Richard Stockton. 

"A Condensation of Upton's Military Policy of the United 

States." 
"An Adequate Naval Policy," by Henry A. Wise Wood. 

Wherever opportunity has offered, or their need been indicated, 
these and other books, shown on page 16, have been liberally used to 
aid in awakening the indifferent, in converting the prejudiced, or 
in adding to the knowledge of patriotic fellow-workers. 

POSTERS 

LONG- BEFORE the governmental machinery for food conserva- 
J tion was organized we conducted a special campaign which, we 
believe, exerted a great influence in arousing interest in saving and 
raising food. To the mayor, or other official of like authority, of 
every city, and to the sheriff of every county in the United States, 
we addressed a letter urging him to issue a food-saving proclama- 
tion. This proclamation called for care and economy in the use of 
foods, and advised the raising of more food. For the convenience 
of the officials addressed a form of proclamation was furnished them, 
page 18, so that no time might be lost in giving the document to the 
public. As an additional incentive to official action we supplied this 
proclamation when requested with the signature of the proper official 
appended. The proclamation was furnished in ten languages, and 
the message was thus carried to many who otherwise might never have 
been reached. At that time no provision had been made for translat- 



19 



WE ARE FOURTH NAVAL POWER IN SHIPS; FIFTH NAVAL POWER IN MEN! 



TAKE A HAND IN 
UPBUILDING THE NATION'S DEFENSES 



POST 

YOURSELF 

AND 

TELL YOUR 

CONGRESSMAN 



AND BE AN AMERICAN! 



CONFERENCE COMMITTEE ON NATIONAL PREPAREDNESS 



HANG 

THIS 

UP 












WE MEED AN ARMY NOW! 



DEMAND MILITARY TRAINING FOR ALL YOUNG MEN! 



Part of Our Peace-Time Propaganda 
20 



ing into other languages the President's proclamation relating to 
food and crops. In this, as in many other kinds of work, the Con- 
ference Committee remained unknown to the public, it being the 
Committee's aim to get the needed work done through local authori- 
ties wherever possible. 

NATIONAL DEFENSE CHARTS 

BEFORE AMERICA entered the war the public and the press 
had no organized means by which to keep informed of the 
progress made, or not made, in enlarging the army and navy. In- 
formation was to be found only in fragmentary, and often unreliable, 
newspaper reports, or in obscure official documents, and such in- 
formation as was obtainable did not present as a whole the condition 
of our defenses. 

The Conference Committee's National Defense Charts, page 20, 
were designed to cover this great need, and to enable the man in 
the street to get quickly a comprehensive view of how little we had 
and how much we needed if we were to be safe and effective. Fur- 
thermore, these charts were prepared to give the press and public a 
concise, comprehensive, and reliable statement of our defenses. It 
was our especial purpose to give press and public a way of following 
the progress made in upbuilding our forces, so that that progress 
might be kept track of. That such a publication was needed is evi- 
denced by the fact that in official circles at Washington the chart 
was welcomed, and copies were constantly asked for. In Congress 
Chart No. 1 was made part of the official record. From newspapers 
and publicists there was a large and continuing demand for them. 

This chart, in its various editions, has been displayed throughout 
all States, in stores, hotels, clubs, post-offices, shops, and railroad 
waiting-rooms. The railroads gave the most active cooperation in 
its distribution. The big systems, for instance, took charts in lots 
of thousands and posted them prominently in their stations, large 
and small. Speakers, writers, and editors have used the chart as an 
authoritative text-book. No other publication containing national 
defense data was in greater demand, nor in our opinion accomplished 
more effective work in teaching our people the practical side of 
defensive preparation during the pre-war period. And it proved 
to be of marked assistance to recruiting officers. 

PICTORIAL POSTERS 

IN THE SPRING OF 1917 the Committee conducted a recruiting- 
poster contest. Its purpose was to stimulate patriotic interest in 
recruiting. Prizes of $250 each were offered for the best army, and 



21 







FILL THE BREECH 



Navy Recruiting Poster for which a Prize of $250 was Awarded 



22 



the best navy, poster. Approximately 300 designs were submitted, 
and all sections of the country were represented. The best posters 
submitted were taken to Washington for judgment. Those selected 
were by McClelland Barclay, of Chicago, for the Navy, page 22, and 
by Lawrence L. Wilbur, of New York, for the Army, page 3. The two 
posters were filmed and exhibited in moving picture theatres gener- 
ally throughout the country, reaching, it is estimated, twenty-five 
millions of persons. 

WASHINGTON BUREAU 

IN NOVEMBER, 1916, the Committee, desiring to keep in closer 
touch with the actual progress of our practical preparations, 
opened a bureau at Washington. Of this, Mr. Earl Hamilton Smith, 
now a Captain in the army, was placed in charge. Through this 
bureau needed information was obtained and supplied to our corre- 
spondents, and many other useful services were rendered, in con- 
nection with the passage of naval, military, and other defensive 
legislation. 

The Washington interests of the Committee are now being handled 
by Mr. Eaymond B. Price, its Treasurer, who is there maintaining 
at his own cost an extensive bureau of investigation, comprising 
statisticians, investigators, writers, and a clerical force. This force 
Mr. Price had placed continuously at the service of the Committee, 
while refusing to permit the latter to contribute to its maintenance. 

The services that Mr. Price has rendered have been of inestimable 
value. His warning, in June, 1917, of the then impending Italian 
disaster, and his suggestion of the means by which it might be 
avoided, is one instance. Another, is his farseeing presentation in 
the Autumn of 1917 of our transportation difficulties, and his fore- 
cast of the predicament in which the country subsequently found 
itself. A third is his analysis of the world's shipping problem, which 
the Committee has distributed, and which should have been given 
immediate national consideration. And a fourth, his analysis of 
conditions at Washington, entitled "Washington's Nine Months at 
War," has recently gone out. 

THE PLATFORM 

THE SIXTH CHANNEL through which the Committee has en- 
deavored to reach public opinion has been the platform. Dur- 
ing the first two years of its work, the Chairman, at no expense to 
the Committee, addressed more than one hundred and fifty audiences, 
in the territory lying between Maine and Tennessee, Utah and the 
Atlantic Coast. 



23 




ling the industrial home work without which they can neither win nor escape? 
i of nations — the fives of millions— are changed by very «nall events. Had th« 
Monitor not been ready for the Merrimac exactly when she was, the Union fleet would hav* 
' useless and the Civil Wax might have had a different ending. Had someon* 
then succeeded in making serious trouble in a mine, a foundry, or a shop— had someone thea 
raceeeded in delaying transportation while the Monitor was under construction, what would havo 
become of the whole Union fleet of wooden ship* which was blockading the Southern ports T 
Germany wants us to be unready or confused when * similar crisis comet. 
Our whole nation is preparing for the turning point in this war which is to determine 
. nan shall have a chance to work out his destiny,.or whether he and his country 
are to become subject to the dictation of a Prussian group. 

If we are not fully ready when the test comes it will be easier for German armies and 
German ships, German submarines and German aircraft, to kill the men that go out from 



Whoever from any motive delays work bearing directly Of Indirectly on the war wifl b* 
accessory to the murder of his fellow Americans. 

, Every strike in the United States, while this war is in progress, U a blow In favor of Germany. 
*ages or decrease his working hour* 
contributes to the victory of a nation 



that make* slaves of white men and scourges I 

The condition of the blacks in America before the Civil War war far better than th* 
of the whites of Belgium who today are carried off like cattle, are overworked, 
underfed, beaten and, sick or weJL must Labor incessantly, often under the fire of their own gun* 

What doth it profit a man to ■£ • »«"£ **• m ■* "*f Bef *" t *£ atU * f 

r re-established the slavery of white men? The work- 

ingman in America who obstructs the cutting of wood, the mining of fuel, the weaving of 
doth, the turning of wheels in factories or on rails while this war is in progress— he is helping 
the. slave masters, the destroyers of civilization, the murderers of i 
What doth it nrofit a man who "** ^ed * m * laftd °* incomparable liberties, 

wnar. aoin u pronr. a man of tdvknUtjfcJ unp „ j] ded - n ^ ra « history of th* 

world, to contribute by any act, however small, to the 



thfully by his duties day by day, allowing no person and 
no thought to get between him and an honest performance 
highest land of patriotic service to his nation and to hi* family. 

«Ct - _...* to ..-. 

little selfish gain in such an hour? When life'* 
measured up at the end, those who have faithfully labored through the. war shall 
be entitled to their credit a* well as those who have led the charges in battle. 
Wriar i4/\frt if nrVifif ft man WB0 want* to improve the condition of laboring men 

wnat aotn it prom a man ^ h<j . gaiiu u UtUe bu[ fa m ^^ proIong- the -Uvery 

who now cannot gain their freedom but by death, or through th* 

for your own honor and safety, for the safety and « 
who go forth to fight, as w*U u for ch« salt* of workingmaa who *r# bow 
actual slavery beneath German slave driven. 





First of a Series of Appeals to Labor 
24 



By this work among the people the anti-patriotic attitude of the 
Socialist, particularly the Russian-American Socialist, was first ex- 
posed, while many communities were brought to accept and heartily 
indorse the preparedness program, and universal military training 
and service. 

Thus, a joint session of the legislature of the State of Utah, which 
had been called by the Governor for the purpose of hearing the Com- 
mittee's Chairman, was converted from a position of passive opposi- 
tion to one of enthusiastic support. And a number of other similar 
community conversions could be cited to prove the effectiveness of 
this branch of the Committee's work. 

THE PREVENTION OF STRIKES 

SINCE WARS ARE WON or lost as surely in the workshop as on 
the battle-field, the Committee believes it can do no more useful 
work than that of helping to keep the workman at his work. There- 
fore the Committee is circulating as part of its labor campaign an 
appeal to workingmen inciting them to stand by their work during 
the period of the war. Industrial bodies of all kinds are cooperating 
with us in this campaign, by posting our placard, "What Doth It 
Profit a Man," which is reproduced on page 24. This appeal, which 
is doing extremely effective work, is furnished by us to be posted in 
mines, yards, and factories, in fourteen languages and in two sizes, a 
large placard, and a small slip to be inserted in pay envelopes. 

Industrial plants usually ask for enough copies to post their build- 
ings and to place one of the slips in each pay envelope. One cor- 
poration alone has used over 41,000 copies. Railroad companies have 
asked for and received over 110,000 copies of this appeal. Many 
hundreds of thousands of copies have been distributed. The appeal 
has been reproduced extensively as a full page newspaper advertise- 
ment, and in some instances has been paid for by parties unknown to 
this Committee. The head of an important Federal bureau in Wash- 
ington has especially commended this propaganda and urged its 
wide dissemination. The circulation of this appeal is only the be- 
ginning of our work in this important field. As every strike that 
occurs while the war is in progress is a blow in favor of Germany, 
we feel that nothing must be left undone to prevent labor troubles. 

Supplementing this appeal, through which we reach not only the 
workingman and his family directly, but reach them also through their 
church affiliation, is a second appeal, "The Work That You Bo 
Every Day" page 31, in connection with which a national campaign 
is being launched as this report goes to press. 



25 



Comments on the Appeal to Workingmen, entitled 
"WHAT DOTH IT PROFIT A MAN?" 



"In reply to your favor of September 29 enclosing a placard bearing an appeal to 
workingmen, headed 'What Doth It Profit a Man' will say this appeal was read at a 
meeting of our Executive Committee and we think it is a splendid appeal. We can 
arrange to use these. We shall be glad to get any number that you are able to send, 
and assure you they will be well used." 

ARKANSAS STATE COUNCIL OF DEFENSE, Little Rock, Ark. 



"We have need of this kind of publicity in New Mexico just at this moment, and I 
am sure that by proper posting they will do much good." 

NEW MEXICO COUNCIL OF DEFENSE, Santa Fe, New Mexico. 



"I am very much impressed with the sentiment on these display cards and will be 
very glad to have a supply for distribution." 

STATE COUNCIL OF NATIONAL DEFENSE, Nashville, Tenn. 



"This is an exceptionally good piece of national defense work and seems particularly 
appropriate to the Pacific Northwest at this time." 

WEST COAST LUMBERMEN'S ASSOCIATION, Seattle, Wash. 



"We thank you for your interest and wish to say, in this connection, that this appeal 
is an excellent one." ANNISTON STEEL CO., Anniston Ala. 



"A stirring appeal to the patriotism of labor, entitled 'What Doth It Profit a Man?' 
has been issued by the Conference Committee on National Preparedness, Metropolitan Life 
Building, New York City. 

"They should be hung in every factory and business house in the United States. They 
strike at the very root of an evil that threatens to undermine our industries. Constructive 
work of this character is badly needed and should receive our enthusiastic support. You 
can help by hanging some of them in your offices and factory." 

BULLETIN OF NATIONAL CONFECTIONERS' ASS'N, Chicago, Ills. 



"This is a very able poster and should be circulated broadcast." 

ELKINS COAL & COKE CO., Morgantowo, W. Va. 



"We hope you may be able to reach every workingman in the United States with 
this impressive appeal and that he may realize the great responsibility resting upon his 
shoulders." THE SOUTHERN COAL & COKE CO., Knoxville, Tenn. 



"Every mine in the country should be compelled to post these placards over its 
property." THE HARLAN COAL CO., Louisville, Ky. 



"This appears to the writer to be one of the best articles he has ever read on the 
subject, and he should like about 1,500 copies to distribute to our workmen." 

THE AMERICAN TOOL WORKS CO., Cincinnati, Ohio. 



26 



FINANCE 

TO THOSE WHO HAVE SO GENEROUSLY, and, many of 
them, constantly, sustained us in our endeavors the Committee 
wishes to say that all moneys contributed have gone wholly and 
directly for patriotic work. No fees or percentages of any description 
have been paid for the raising of our funds. The Committee has 
but two persons upon the payroll, its Secretary and his stenographer. 
All other services are rendered gratis. Such expense as the members 
of the Committee have incurred in their work they themselves have 
borne. 

The accounts of the Committee are audited quarterly by Messrs. 
Haskins & Sells, Certified Public Accountants, who have done this 
work without charge as a patriotic service. These audits are open 
at all times to our subscribers. 

It is a matter of interest that among the most generous supporters 
of our work have been Thomas A. Edison and the late Joseph H. 
Choate. Mr. Henry Cabot Lodge also has assisted, as have many 
other prominent men and women throughout the country. Our 
support has been liberal, and it has been national in scope. 



REVIEW 

A REVIEW OF THE PAST three years leads us to the con- 
clusion that the preparedness campaign has borne fruit far 
beyond the hopes of the several organizations which inaugurated it, 
and which have conducted it so often under the most discouraging 
auspices. 

While endeavoring to impress upon the Government and Con- 
gress the need for active and immediate preparations for military 
eventualities, the movement, it is now seen, succeeded in so educating 
the people at large, in the military and other necessities of the 
situation, that when the moment for action arrived the people arose 
without confusion, accepted the draft with alacrity, and submitted 
without complaint to the sacrifices of warfare. 

In this connection the following paragraphs from a letter recently 
sent out by the Committee to its subscribers will be of interest : 

"In view of our large foreign population and the well- 
laid plans of Germany to create trouble, we hold it to be 
no accident that radical changes in our national life incident 
to financing the war, to feeding and supplying our allies, 
and to raising our armies by conscription, are proceeding 
with so little friction. 

"The unanimity and resolution with which our people 



27 



Comments on the Appeal to Workingmen, entitled 
"WHAT DOTH IT PROFIT A MAN?" 



"This is the best that has been brought to our notice, and we would like some for 
display about our and other plants and public places." 

GREJLICK MANUFACTURING CO., Traverse City. Mich. 



"We think a great deal of this poster, to the extent that we would like to put up 
several in prominent places in our factory. Therefore, if it is within reason for ui to 
ask that you send us a quantity of these we would be glad to have you do so." 

APPLETON MANUFACTURING CO., Batavia, Ills. 



"Governor Boyle directs me to acknowledge his receipt of your letter of September 
29 enclosing a copy of an appeal to workingmen, and to say that he is glad to avail 
himself of your offer to send a number of these placards for use in this State. If you 
are in a position to send these, the Governor will be grateful to you." 

STATE OF NEVADA, Executive Chamber, Carson City, Nev. 



"We consider this one of the best appeals we have so far seen, and trust it will do 
the good it logically should do." 

WM. CRAMP & SONS SHIP & ENGINE BUILDING CO., Philadelphia. 



Instructions from a high official at Washington to his subordinate: 

"The Conference Committee on National Preparedness, 1 Madison Avenue, New York, 
is issuing a card entitled 'What Doth It Profit a Man.' It is excellent propaganda and 
if widely disseminated, should do much to combat the Socialiastic and I. W. W. matter 
now in circulation. 

"It might be wise to urge the widest possible distribution of these cards. Many of 
the workers who are influenced by the I. W. W.'s printed arguments are just as easily 
turned by the sort of reasoning used in the committee's exhortation." 



"This article is very good. We might use 5,000 to advantage." 

W. J. HARAHAN, Pres., 

Seaboard Air Line Railway Co. 

"It ['What Doth it Profit a Man'] is the best worded and conveys the most information 
of anything I have seen." £> RAYMOND, Gen. Supt., 

Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Ry. Co. 



"We consider this the very best thing of its kind that has come to our attention, and 
we would like to have copies for posting at our 100 operating mines." 

C. L. GREEN, Director, 

The Consolidation Coal Co. 
s 

Conference Committee on National Preparedness, 
New York: 
"Will there be any objection to printing here the card 'What Doth It Profit a Man'? 
You have our letter of the 28th, asking for 6,000 copies. Wire answer." 

W. J. O'CONNOR, 

Southern Bell Telephone Company, St. Louis, Mo. 



28 



have faced the war have been in no small measure due to 
the impress the movement for preparedness has made upon 
public opinion. 

"Results far beyond expectation have attended our efforts 
to help keep public thought straight, to arouse a united 
national spirit, through the dissemination of compelling 
facts convincingly presented. The information we have 
placed before the public has been an invaluable aid to our 
people in official as well as private life, in readjusting them- 
selves to the new conditions. 

"Not the least useful of our efforts have been those in- 
directly applied. We have aided local organizations in 
various parts of the country and through them have been 
the means of inaugurating movements of far-reaching im- 
portance, though not always publicly identifying ourselves 
with these projects. To induce others to take up patriotic 
tasks has been and is our aim." 

That the need for such an educational campaign as we have carried 
on is intensified, and not lessened, by the war is now plain to all. 
The propaganda of disloyalty can be met only by an energetically 
conducted counter campaign of patriotic education among our people. 
Many speak of liberty who need to be taught its worth and the means 
by which it is to be secured. It is our task to interpret the word in 
terms of practical patriotism. 

One of Germany's most powerful weapons of conquest is propa- 
ganda. What she has achieved in Italy and Eussia we know. We 
must expect that here also she will be unsleeping in her efforts to 
create similar trouble for us, especially in the quarters that have 
already aided her cause. It is of the utmost importance, therefore, 
that the Committee's campaign, which is being conducted to create 
a sound foundation of practical patriotism among the identical classes 
upon which German propaganda is now at work, should be pushed 
with untiring energy. Not a moment should be lost, for everywhere 
are apparent the effects of the intellectual poison which Germany is 
spreading throughout the world. 

All who wish to participate in this most necessary work may 
place funds in our hands with the assurance that they will be used 
with precision and effect. 

HENRY A. WISE WOOD, 

Chairman. 



29 



MARTINSBURG EVENING JOURNAL 

Max von Schlegell, Editor and Publisher 

Martinsburg, W. Va. 

HENRY A. WISE WOOD, Esq., April 27, 1917. 

Chairman, Conference Committee, 
New York City. 

My Dear Sir: 

Recently I received a circular from you to which I replied that it was the first 
matter of the kind to which I had given serious thought. To this you replied with a 
very kind letter which was a great deal of pleasure to me. Now, in reply to your 
request of April 25 regarding the formation of a Home Defense Committee, I want to 
show you just how much good your letter really did in my case. 

You taught me that the preparedness idea was right. I asked our Mayor to call 
together a few representative citizens — preferring that he do it owing to my German 
name — and he called together fifty men to whom I outlined an organization plan and the 
following objective: 

"To inculcate the spirit of patriotism, assist in increasing enlistments, assist in 
making a military census of Berkeley County, provide for home defense, and to provide 
personal representatives at home for the boys who go to the front that they may have a 
complete sense of security regarding their affairs at home. Also to encourage the increased 
production of food." 

My plan was adopted as offered and the name is "Preparedness League of Berkeley 
County." Mayor P. W. Leiter is the chairman. 

My thanks to you again for interesting me in these matters Anything more that you 
would suggest? 

Yours very truly, 

S-vS (Signed) MAX VON SCHLEGELL. 



30 



The Work That You Do Every Day 

LET the work that you do every day be dedicated — 

To the memory of the babies of France and Belgium who were impaled 
on bayonets and carried off over the shoulders of German soldiers — that 
your baby may never be in danger of a like death. 

LET the work that you do every day be dedicated — 

To the memory of the little boys in the invaded districts of Europe who 
have been crucified — that your own boy may not be in danger of 
being crucified. 

LET the work that you do every day be dedicated — 

To the memory of the little girls of Belgium and France who have been 
carried into a slavery far worse than death — that your daughter may not 
be in danger of thus falling a victim to German barbarians. 

LET the work that you do every day be dedicated — 

To the memory of the mothers of Europe who have seen their children 
slaughtered and their husbands with bound hands driven away to a fate 
unknown — that the mothers here may not see similar processions 
in your own streets. 

LET the work that you do every day be dedicated — 

To the white-haired women of Belgium and France who have seen 
honest men dig their own graves — that the white-haired of your family 
may not suffer a like agony. 

LET the work that you do every day be dedicated — 

To the memory of the Allied soldiers who have been crucified upon 
doors because they fought for civilization and justice — that justice may 
be done you and yours. 

LET the work that you do every day be dedicated — 

To the memory of the beautiful cities, villages, orchards and fields of 
Europe, now blackened wastes — that your own beautiful towns and 
fields may not be turned into places which men will avoid. 

LET the work that you do every day be dedicated — 

To the memory of the once happy homes in Europe which the Hun 
burned after murdering the inmates — that your home may not become 
the funeral pyre of your family. 

LET the work that you do every day be dedicated — 

To the memory of the nations that have been crushed and scattered — 
that your own nation may not be destroyed and that your people 
may not be driven forth like the migrating multitudes who have 
died in the fields and the highways. 

LET the work that you do every day be dedicated — 

To the manhood that is in you — that you may not desert your brother 
who has gone to the battlefront, that you may not desert your nation 
now that it needs you, that you may not be tricked into imperiling the 
safety of your wife, your daughter, your mother, when the smooth- 
tongued enemies of your country come whispering to you. 

LET the work that you do every day be dedicated — 

To the manhood that is in you, that you shall have no remorse when 
broken men come back from the battlefront — so that empty sleeves 
and sightless eyes shall not as instruments of your own conscience 
reproach you by day and haunt you by night because you at home failed 
to support our men while they fought in France. 

Any person desiring to know the authority for statements of German atrocity made in the 
foregoing may obtain the information by writing the Conference Committee on National 
Preparedness. 

From the Series of Appeals to Labor 
31 



EXPOSING SUBTLE GERMAN 
PROPAGANDA 

Letter to Clergymen Warning Them of the Dangers of the 
Kaiser's Claim of an Alliance With God. 

January 26, 1918. 
Reverend Sir: 

You are familiar with the repeated and confident declaration of 
the German Emperor that he goes hand in hand with God. This 
declaration sustains and strengthens the morale of his soldiers and 
people. That it has done so effectively is apparent. 

But have you observed the growing effect of his statement upon 
our own people? Notwithstanding the fact that it is common knowl- 
edge that he has undermined Christianity by following a policy 
diametrically opposed to it in his prosecution of the war, his persistent 
claim of God-supported righteousness is commencing to have an ex- 
tremely evil and insidious influence upon our people, especially when 
this claim is put forth in connection with German military successes. 

You well know the psychological effect of emotional reiteration, 
especially in connection with stupendous events which seemingly give 
to it the color of truth. 

This insolent God-claiming attitude of the German Emperor our 
people treat with silent contempt, or utter indifference, but it is just 
here that a serious mistake is being made by us. We are permitting 
this blasphemous propaganda to fall upon the minds of our whole 
population, without our offering any active and effective opposition to 
its acceptance. What assurance have we therefore that it is not taking 
root; that there is not forming in many minds an unspoken fear that 
perhaps the Kaiser is right? If this be so, after the fear may come 
belief, perhaps even among many religious men in the Army. 

It appears to me that this repeated enemy assertion of divine aid 
is a slow, subtle, dangerous poison which may become instilled in our 
people by our public prints, and helped on by enemy aliens among us. 

Need I remind you of the strength of the man who asserts that he 
is in the right, and that God is with him? Need I remind you of the 
handicap of the man in any station of life, much less on the battlefield, 
who is not fortified with the profound belief that his cause is just? 

You possess in large measure the power to counteract this evil, to 
hearten and strengthen our people at home and abroad, and I ask you 
as an act of religious patriotism and justice to use your prerogative 
to destroy this sacrilegious propaganda, which has already been al- 
lowed to run too long without resistance. Will you not raise your voice 
against it? 

I shall be glad to have you write me if you will, suggesting how 
you believe we can best marshal our people to resist the injection of 
such poison into the subconsciousness of our nation. 

The enclosed article, "Christ, or the Sword?", I am sending as a 
suggestive summary of the spiritual damage that Germany has done 
the Christian world, and shall be glad to have you use it in any manner 
that you see fit. If you wish additional copies- for distribution we 
shall send them gratis. 

Faithfully yours, 

HENRY A. WISE WOOD, 

Chairman. 



32 



CHRIST, or the SWORD? 

By HENRY A. WISE WOOD 

©HIS is history's gravest hour. Not since Christ stood before 
Pilate has there been so momentous a trial of moral systems 
as that which is taking place. 

Two theories of life are striving for mastery. A civilization that 
is the legitimate outgrowth of Christianity, expressive of kindliness, 
good faith, and democratic tolerance, is at death's grip with a rein- 
carnation of ancient barbarism, weaponed stealthily by modern science 
behind a mask of Christ, which has sprung suddenly to the world's 
reconquest. 

Thus the old morality once more confronts the new. The spiritual 
power enthroned by Christ in the hearts of men is tempted to its 
overthrow by the gentleness of its faith, while the barbaric conception 
of rule by force alone, in full resurgence, is poised to slay it with the 
very discoveries of Christendom. 

Into this struggle the West has gone, — not for material or political 
reasons but for moral reasons. The Christian's heritage is assailed, 
and we are offering possessions and life in its defense. If the Chris- 
tian world ever has had need since medieval times to dedicate its all 
to the duty of snatching the sword from the foul hand of destructive 
infidelism, it is now. Today the modern crusade is afoot, and in the 
spirit of crusader America has entered the war. 

Those who compute its losses in terms of property, or life, have 
no spiritual conception of its costs. The dead will be replaced and 
the wreckage restored, but not soon the glorious flower-like structure 
of Chivalry which, honored even by the Saracen of old, has been 
slowly molding the peoples into a single family, molding them while 
they fought. Its beauty, which men loved, its strength, in which they 
trusted even upon the field, and, with these, its usefulness, all, born 
of the heroism of nineteen centuries, have been struck from the Chris- 
tian era by one of civilization's greatest debtors, now turned renegade. 

If, in this crisis, Christendom stand less firm in its faith than did 
its martyrs in the arena at Rome; if, in its hour of suffering, it be 
not ready to say with Christ in the garden of Gethsemane, "O my 
Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, 
thy will be done;" if, in having said with Him to the aggressor, "for all 
they that take the sword shall perish with the sword" it hold not 
faithfully to its oath; if, having forsaken its ideals to make a coward 
peace that fails to draw the fangs of the Serpent Power, Christendom 
take the latter not stripped of its venom again to its breast, then in- 
deed shall the moral law among peoples pass from use, and all men 
sleep upon weapons. 

Human institutions are again in the crucible. Thence will arise a 
civilization based upon the spiritual conception of life, or the material. 
Antagonal codes of morality cannot survive as equals in the same 
world; one will prevail. If the West have the power and fortitude 
to endure to the end, and succeed, humanity will ascend to undreamed- 
of heights of opportunity and freedom; if it have not, and fail, what 
then shall save both from the craftily directed enginery of this soul- 
less scientific barbarism, that, blasphemously feigning the approval 
of God to palsy a trustful Christendom, is gathering up the peoples 
of the earth? 



(Because the spiritual aspects of the war are being overshadowed by its political aspects, this has re- 
cently been prepared and sent to the leading clergymen throughout the country, with the suggestion 
that they work its thought into their sermons.) 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




jHetropolitan 

432 FOURTH AVENUE 
NEW YORK 



018 465 809 4 



OFFICE OF 
THEODORE ROOSEVELT 



January 7, 1918 



My dear Mr. Wise food: 

Three cheers for you I I want 
to tell you how much I appreciate 
the work you have done for this 
country. You have shown yourself 
a patriot. 

Faithfully yours, 




Mr. Henry A. Wise Wood, 
25 Madison Avenue, City, 



